<p>theres a whole lot of debate going on, surrounding whether the SATS actually reflect intelligence or not.</p>
<p>my friends are laugh at eachother if they have low SAT scores. to them, low SAT scores = dumb.</p>
<p>they look at me like a god because i get such high SAT scores. </p>
<p>i dont know whether the SAT measures test-taking skills or intelligence more.</p>
<p>because honestly, i know a lot of smart kids in our school who just flunk out on the SATs....one of the really smart girls in my class (who is probably one of the smartest people i know... she understands concepts very easily--- and gets amazing grades, and knows what she's talking about in class).... she got only 50 points or so above average. and there are a few mediocre kids in our school who get higher SAT scores than the smart kids. </p>
<p>i know one really dumb kid who sits around throwing spitballs in class all the time --- he got an amazing SAT score for what i expected of him (he got 2180). he never actually understands any of the lectures in class... and he needs everything to be repeated to him many times outside of class for him to understand it.</p>
<p>because it's supposed to be an equalizer but it doesn't take into account so many factors. because it's so flawed, a lot of colleges are starting to make it optional</p>
<p>In my opinion they don't! Then again, I did horrible on them. I suppose if I did well, I'd be all for them. I do know this, they dont acutally reflect intelligence. If you can take a class and they go up 200 points, 400 points, even, than it is a true measure of your intellegience. Plus, sure they may reflect SOME kinds of intelligence, but certainly not ALL kinds, there are many different TYPES of intelligence, many of which will not be shown through SATs. Grades, Class difficultly, etc. are much better predictors of future sucess then SATs. (Look at the post I recently made, I did EXCELLENT in college at 16, but yet got horrible on my SATs, go figure)</p>
<p>Parkrunner, the reason the new SAT was made was because the University of California system didn't believe that the SAT worked, so they had the college board make the changed. Since we are only in the first few years of it, it is yet to see if anything has changed.</p>
<p>It's easy to get high scores on the SAT if you have the patience and determination to take half a dozen or so practice tests (and actually study the results of each one). So I'd lean towards no, it's not an accurate measure of intelligence by any means. </p>
<p>I imagine colleges use it because instead of intelligence, it measures your ability to resist procrastination. </p>
<p>The new essay portion is an utter joke, though. Write an essay on a subject introduced in one paragraph in 25 minutes? Who's bright idea was that? Yeah it's definitely a good measure of writing potential...</p>
<p>i would say absolutely not. i did pretty well on the SATs and i don't think i'm smart at all. you can attend some SAT prep place for about 3-4 months and easily break 2000 if you have the determination. that doesn't really mean that you got "smarter" in 3-4 months.</p>
<p>It measures how prepared you are for college, if you can manage to study that long for a test, and be that determined to do well, you are probably well prepared for college. It's not a measure of intelligence, its a test to see how well you'd fair academically at each school.</p>
<p>The "S" in SAT is for standidized, and that is what colleges are looking for, some type of test that is a standard between ALL high schools. Otherwise you have Susie who gets an A from Ms Jones in her math class at ABC High School, because, well, Ms Jones gives EVERYONE an A in her class and then you have Johnny who who busts his balls to get a B in Mr. Smith's class, because Mr Smith doesn't believe anybody but Einstein himself should get an A. They both take the SAT test and guess what Susie gets a 600 and Johnny gets an 800..... who is better at math? I don't know, but if the colleges only saw the grades, they would think that Susie was.
Is the SAT perfect, of course not, but it gives colleges another way to look at a student's academic ability.
p.s. SAT prep taking classes give you test taking skills to help you do better, and I think a lot of kids do better because they are less nervous about taking the test, because they feel they are better "prepared". IMO</p>
<p>It measures vocabulary and math skills, reading ability and now the ability to write an essay. Hopefully, with those skills a person should be able to handle college level classes. </p>
<p>Does it measure intelligence or motivation or predict actual sucess in life? No. </p>
<p>I know those who score really well would like to think that it does, and those who score poorly would like to think that it doesn't , but the truth is there isn't a test in the world that can hold a person back if he or she is driven to succeed.</p>
<p>Here is one study documenting the likelihood of an association between IQ and SAT score. </p>
<p>What does the SAT test?
By Christopher Shea | July 4, 2004</p>
<p>A study published in the June 04 issue of the Journal Psychological Science claims to prove that the current SAT is, in the end, an IQ test. The authors, psychology professor Douglas K. Detterman of Case Western Reserve University and graduate student Meredith C. Frey, argue that the SAT actually measures "general intelligence" -- or g, in the argot of psychometricians -- more effectively than some IQ tests wielded by psychologists (which often ask test-takers to do things like discern patterns in strings of numbers). The authors even provide formulas for converting SAT scores into IQ scores.</p>
<p>Frey and Detterman came to these conclusions by analyzing two data sets. Using existing records, they examined the scores of 11,878 students who had taken the Armed Services Vocational Battery, designed in part as a probe of IQ, in 1979. Some 917 of these students had also taken the SAT -- and the results of the two tests correlated very closely. They also gave the Raven Test of Progressive Matrices (a very abstract IQ test, testing pattern recognition) to 104 Case Western students who had valid SAT scores on record at the university. Again, these students' IQ scores and SAT scores were tightly correlated.</p>
<p>if SAT prep courses didn't exist, then maybe. But with all the strategy-based "go for the answer that someone who isn't smart wouldn't guess" questions make it a test about beating the system.</p>
<p>SAT scores are not just correlated with IQs; they were originally designed to be rough estimates of IQ, cleverly disguised by an extra "0." Notice that scores of 1000 (100) are average and the peak is at 1600 (160). Scores on the old National Merit test were calculated on a similar scale and cut off at roughly 140 for semifinalist/finalist standing.</p>
<p>SAT definitely does not reflect intelligence. I got a decent score on it (2300) and I am seriously not that smart. People I know would get a lower score and I consider them to be much smarter than I.</p>
<p>i defintely thing that sat IS a good measure of intelligence after a certain point that is...for example, most #20's on the math section require some serious critical thinking and isn't that what intelligence is all about, figuring out a way to solve a problem (quickly) like the sat requires?...i definetely see a correlation between those i perceive as on the more intelligent side getting higher scores and vice versa...</p>